The Assistant Librarian 1925-02: Vol 18 Iss 315

Che Cibrary Assistant:

The Pere — of the Association of Assistant Librarians.

F EBRU ARY, “192 5. Fublished Monthty

PRINCIPAL CONTENTS.

Announcements and Editorials

Books of the Month . i
Librarianship as a Career for WwW omen, ‘by Miss W. K. Thorne
In Defence of the Novel, by F. P. Sinclair ...

Correspondence ies

The Divisions

ANNOUNCEMENTS & EDITORIALS.

The Next Meeting of the Association will be held on Wed-
nesday, llth February, 1925, at 7 p.m., in the Officers’ Guild
Room, Town Hall, Lambeth, S.W. Please use the Acre Lane
entrance. Mr. A. B. Robinson, F.L.A., Chief Librarian, Lam-
beth Public Libraries, will preside. Three short papers will oc
read, entitled :—

‘‘Recognition—certificates, age, merit.’’ By Mr. H. A.
Sharp, F.L.A., Croydon.

‘**Music and Gramophones in Public Libraries.’ By Mr. F. S.
Smith, Bethnal Green.

‘‘The Publicity Agent.’’ By Miss Exley, St. Marylebone.

Members and friends are cordially invited to visit the Central
Library, which is opposite the Town Hall, before the meeting.

The Junior Section will hold their meeting in the Guild Room,
at 6.30 p.m., when Miss L. Carr (Croydon), will read a paper on
**The Commercial Bureau.”’

The Council will also meet in the Guild Room on the same
date, Committees 5.30 p.m., Council 6 p.m.

The Library may be reachéd from the Elephant and Castle by
Tram Service No. 10 or ’Bus Services Nos. 134 and 34. The
nearest Underground Station is the Oval, thence by tram or "bus
as above. Book to Lambeth Town Hall.

As this is the first meeting of the Association at Brixton we
hope that members will attend and discuss the papers which should
prove of great interest.

The Herne Hill Branch has been re-organised quite recently
and members who have time to visit this branch will be amply
repaid. The nearest station is Loughborough Junction.

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The Questionnaire.—By the time these lines appear, librarians
all over the country will have wrestled with the most formidable
questionnaire—horrible word—that they have so far been faced
with. We say ‘‘so far,’’ because it may be that this is only a
fore-shadowing of what may follow if certain things come to pass.
They will have wrestled, and set down their answers, hence the
matter is no longer sub judice.

Really, we are getting so used to these documents, that the
task—or art—of filling them up is becoming a fascinating pas-
time, and one which, if it continues, will cause the inventors of
cross-word puzzles to look to their laurels.

In case there are some of our readers who have been denied
a sight of this entertaining and fateful document, we may say
that it consists of seventeen printed foolscap pages, containing
altogether thirty-six leading questions, with goodness knows how
many sub-questions, and an introductory page of four notes and
a heading, indicating the fact that the document emanates from
the Board of Education on behalf of the ‘‘Public Libraries Com-
mittee, of which Sir Frederic G. Kenyon and C.*O. G. Douie are
respectively the chairman and the secretary. The ‘‘question-
naire’’ itself is divided into A, B, C, and D. A is statistical, B is
‘*Public Libraries Committee,’ C concerns ‘‘Library Organisa-
tion,’’ and D is what we have heard referred to as the ‘‘Blank
page,’’ on which librarians are invited to suggest ‘‘what measures,
whether legislative or otherwise, would, in your opinion, best
advance the welfare of the public library system.'’’ We guess
that the clerk who tabulates this page will need a good sized sheet
of paper!

The Committee appears to have recognized even at this early
stage the verbosity of some librarians, for a note provides that,
if necessary, answers may flow over to a separate sheet. But
sometimes the space allotted permits of this being done.

It would have been interesting to have had the name of the
librarian on each schedule, because in some cases this information
might throw more light on the efficiency of a library system than
the whole lot of answers put together.

In view of the chaotic state of salaries at present, the space
provided at 8 appears to be quite inadequate, and unless this
number has been filled in very carefully it may be rendered useless
for purposes of comparison.

We are sorry to see that opportunities for the exercise of
imagination have been provided by the inclusion of a space for
‘“‘estimated”’ issues. Very dangerous!

Can there be more than one ‘‘chief’’ librarian of a library?

The questionnaire at least provides for such an undesirable con-
tingency.

bs
Be
Be

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It has only happened by coincidence, but it is almost humor-
ous to see three parts of a foolscap page set aside for the question,
‘‘Is the committee represented at the annual conference of the
Library Association ?”’

And here is another nice one! - ‘‘What criterion is used for
placing books in the Reference Department rather than in the
Lending Department?’’ Really, a prize ought to have been
offered for the most concise answer to this.

Why is it not asked what qualifications are required of chief
librarians? The question only relates to ‘‘assistants.’’ We seem
to see a red light just here!

Finally, we think it just a little unkind on the part of the
compilers of the questionnaire to ask so many questions regarding
lectures and their cost. Exactly why, our readers will appreciate.

We could say a good deal more, but the Editor gave us a
page and we have filled two. We await the results of the tabula-
tion with interest, and only venture to hope, in conclusion, that
every librarian has made his return. If not, do it now.

Vw

The January Meeting.—A very successful meeting was held
cn Wednesday, the 14th, when the Association paid its first visit
to Tottenham. Members were greatly impressed with the fine
appearance and tone of the Lending Library which has been con-
verted to the open access system fairly recently.

Business opened at 6.30 p.m. with a meeting of the Junior
Section, at which Mr. A. T. Austing, of Wood Green, presided.
The paper was read by Mr. S. E. Overal, of Walthamstow, who
touched on some of the possible effects of the removal of the
preliminary test, after which the meeting adjourned to the
Retiring Room where refreshments were awaiting consumption.
Here the chair was taken by the Rev. T. W. Oswald Hicks,
Chairman of the Libraries Committee, who formally welcomed
the Association to Tottenham.

Mr. L. A. Dubery, J.P., a member of the Tottenham Libraries
Committee occupied the chair at the general meeting owing to
the absence through an urgent business call of Dr. A. G. Newell,
the Chairman of the Tottenham Council. Mr. F. P. Sinclair's
exhaustive paper on ‘‘The Defence of the Novel’’—to which was
prefaced some interesting words written for the occasion by
Mr. Frank Swinnerton and Miss S. Kaye-Smith—was listened to
with great interest and caused a spirited discussion to take place
at its conclusion. Among the participators in the discussion
were the Chairman, Mr. R. H. D.:Smith (Richmond), Mr. Smith
(Bethnal Green), Miss Rees (Fulham), Mr. Vale (Bethnal Green),
Mr. Wright (Wandsworth) and the Hon. Secretary. There were
hopes of the Hon. Treasurer following the Hon. Secretary but

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apparently time didn’t permit and Mr. Sandry moved, with his
customary eloquence, a vote of thanks to the speaker for his
paper.

The Hon. Secretary rounded off a successful evening by
proposing a vote of thanks to the Chairman of the meeting, the
Tottenham Council and Mr. W. J. Bennett and his staff. If
we may be allowed to pass one comment it is that this meeting
provided a splendid lesson of the success that can be effected by
cordial co-operation between the authority (in so courteously
placing the Council Chamber and Retiring Room at our disposal),
the chief of the department (and Mr. Bennett is an old friend of
our Association who spared no pains to ensure the success of the
meeting), and the staff, who were quietly, but none the less effec-
tively, on the qui vive throughout the meeting in attending to the
personal requirements of their visitors. Well done, Tottenham!

Professional Qualifications.—We regret to say that we are
frankly disappointed at the response to our request of last month
for all information on the subject of financial recognition for pro-
fessional qualifications. May we again appeal earnestly to all
those who possess any information and have not yet communi-
cated it to the Hon. Secretary to do so as soon as possible.
The information is of the greatest importance to many of our
members and upon a full return depends an immediate increase
of salary to members of several libraries staffs. To the few who
have so kindly supplied the desired information we tender our
very best thanks.

Dance Tickets for the dance to be held at Cripplegate
Institute, on Wednesday, 25th February, 1925, may be obtained
from the following, price 2s. 6d. inclusive: Mr. Cooper, Batter-
sea; Mr. Cross, Croydon; Miss Exley, St. Marylebone; Mr.
Jones, Stepney; Mr. Parker, Hackney; Mr. Maskett, Bethnal
Green; Miss Rees, Fulham; Mr. Wright, Wandsworth.

For the benefit of members who do not dance who are
bringing friends, we hope to arrange an informal game of whist
curing the dancing. Dancing to commence at 7.30 p.m. prompt.
Morning dress.

The London and Home Counties Branch and Ourselves.—
This Branch of the Library Association convened a_ special
meeting which was duly held at the St. Bride Institute on Wed-
nesday, January 7th, at 3 p.m. The business down for con-
sideration was a draft report of the Co-ordination Comumittec
which was to be submitted to members after it had been dealt
with by the Council. The idea of the Branch was to give a lead
te its members in filling up the Government questionnaire, and
so weighty were its deliberations on this question that it was
decided to convene a Special Conference for Wednesday, January
2Ist, at 3 p.m.

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At this Special Conference it was decided, by vote, to invite
only chief librarians (whether members of the Association or
not!) and one representative from each library authority within
the area.

Had an independent conference been convened by the Chief
Librarians of the area no one could have cavilled at the restriction
of invitations. When, however, a Branch of the Library Asso-
ciation, whose primary object is ‘‘To unite all persons engaged or
interested in library work,’’ convenes a conference and makes
such a distinction, surely it is rank bad form to say the least.
(Perhaps it is even outside their powers, but let that pass for the
moment.) To exclude definitely a section of their members who
have been among the most enthusiastic supporters of the Branch
appeared such a deliberate slight that it is small wonder that the
Council of our Association, at its. January Council Meeting,
instructed the Hon. Secretary to send a letter of protest to the
London and Home Counties Branch, and also a letter to the Hon.
Secretary of the Library Association asking if the Branch were
in order in their decision to exclude assistants who were members.
Replies have been received to both of these letters but as the
matter is still sub judice it is impossible to comment here on their
contents. Perhaps we shall be able to make further remarks
after the Council Meeting of the Library Association.

Apart altogether from the principle involved, it hardly seems
cricket to utilize funds for a conference largely provided by people
who are not to be allowed admission. One librarian was
courageous enough to say that some chiefs would probably not
like their subordinates at such a conference—that we can easily
imagine, but it hardly justifies the action of the Branch.

We could, of course, continue in this strain, but will conclude
by merely asking the London and Home Counties Branch of the
Library Association to consider three points :—

(1) What action would they take were members of the
staff of the British Museum to present themselves for admis-
sion to this Conference? They have some on their members’
roll.

(2) Will they appoint another Hon. Secretary for the
Conference, because the present Hon. Secretary of the
Branch is not entitled to be present?

(3) Would the resignation of all members of the Branch
who are not Chief Librarians assist the Branch to conduct its
affairs more easily, or would such action tend to put future
meetings of the Branch on the same level as the meetings
of the Library Association which were the objects of such
disparaging remarks at the formation of the Branch?

4 See a. 2b cattinn AE

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Our members are reminded that at our March meeting the
County Librarian of Middlesex will open a discussion on Co-
operation.

Bolton.—The Corporation are promoting a Bill in Parlia-
ment which inter alia provides for the erection of a Central
Library and Art Gallery at an estimated cost of £165,000. The
present Central Library in Bolton is in three separate buildings,
and proper control and co-ordination of the work is well-nigh
impossible. The preliminary plans, covering an area of about
25,000 sq. ft. and situated in the Town Centre, have been already
approved by the Council, and show a very handsome structure
architecturally uniform with the Town Hall.

In addition, an elaborate scheme for the conversion of all the
Children’s Reading Halls into Juvenile Open Access Libraries
is to be commenced at once. The Astley Bridge Branch is the
first to be converted, the order for the necessary fittings having
been placed in the hands of Libraco, Ltd.

The Work of the Council.—The January meeting of the
Council was held on Wednesday, the 7th, at the Stepney Public
Library, when the chair was taken by the Vice-President, Mr.
‘H. A. Sharp.

Several points of interest were discussed through the reading
of the Hon. Secretary’s correspondence. The Council were
naturally very interested in the plucky attempt of our East Coast
colleagues to form a Division. It is obvious that much will
cepend on the energy which Norwich can radiate, and it will be a
great achievement if a Division is eventually formed in that area
—an achievement that must surely shame some of the more
populous areas.

The correspondence was read relating to the curious wording
of the advertisement for a rural librarianship of which mention
was made in our last issue, and it appeared that the Association’s
letter of protest had not been a fruitless effort.

Another point was that of a Council which had decided to
recognise the possession of professional certificates by its staff
with the exception of its libraries department. Here again,
although the particular library system is far from well-repre-
sented in our ranks, the Association is making an effort to secure
the recognition to which the staff is undoubtedly entitled.

That useful item on any agenda, ‘‘Other business,’’ was
responsible for a suggestion which takes effect with this number.
It arose from hearing Mr. Vale’s paper on ‘Knowledge of
Books,’’ and our readers will notice the first list of books which
assistants ought to know. Mr. Vale, at the request of the
Council, has agreed to be responsible for this new feature.

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With regard to classes in librarianship which the Associa-
tion has been endeavouring to persuade the L.C.C. to take up,
it is of particular interest to learn that one responsible master
has agreed to start a class in any desired subject on learning of
a minimum of seven students desiring to take such course. This

. is a definite step forward, and is of special interest to assistants

in. the Metropolitan district.

A keen discussion also took place on the curious attitude
taken up by the London and Home Counties Branch of the
Library Association and all readers are requested to peruse the
paragraph which we have devoted to that question, which further
emphasises the need for an association to safeguard the interests
cf assistants.

Classification.—We again draw the attention of our readers
to the “Grammar of Classification’? by Mr. Sayers, the 3rd
Edition of which is now available and can be obtained from Mr.
W. B. Thorne, Bromley Library, Brunswick Road, Poplar, E.14.,
for the modest sum of 63d. At the same time we would point
out that a number of the A.A.L. series are still in print. A list
of the series appears on p. 4 of the cover.

Honorary Librarian of the Association.—Mrs. Hazard,
consequent on her appointment to the position of Cataloguer in
the Croydon Public Libraries, has resigned her post of Honorary
Librarian to the A.A.L. Mrs. Hazard has carried out the duties
of Librarian for several years, and very few, we think realise the
valuable and unobtrusive work that has gone on behind the
scenes. The Association owes her a deep debt of gratitude for
the skilful and untiring way in which she has ministered to the
requests of assistants, and in making the library really useful
to members of the profession. It was with regret that the
Council accepted the resignation of Mrs. Hazard, but at the same
time heartily congratulated her on her appointment. In recogni-
tion of her valuable services, it was unanimously decided in
Council to make a presentation to Mrs. Hazard.

Miss A. E. Lucas, Central Library, Islington, has kindly
consented to take up the office.

County Library Appointments.—Our attention has been
drawn to a letter, in one of our contemporaries, from Mr. C. R.
Sanderson who, in the course of his rémarks says that ‘‘there
is an unpleasant tone in the suggestion conveyed by the anony-
mous comment in one library journal: ‘Mr. H. D. Rokerts who
raised the point had been satisfied and apparently it did not
matter about the rest of the members.’ ”’

This extract is taken from our account of the Conference at
Glasgow and we fail to see anything unpleasant, either intended
or implied in our article, and we submit that it is a fair comment

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on the proceedings. Mr. Sanderson misses the point entirely.
We are not concerned personally with either Mr. H. D. Roberts
or Colonel Mitchell, but what we are concerned with, is the
appointment of untrained or insufficiently trained men and women
to the post of librarian in County Library systems, and surely the
recent advertisement of the Northamptonshire County Council is
a sufficient justification for our attitude.

We do not appreciate Mr. Sanderson’s last sentence when
he says that ‘‘he writes in the interests of truth."’ The facts of
the case were as reported in our journal, and to Mr. Roberts’
question as to the appointment of trained men, Colonel Mitchel!
promised a written reply for the Business meeting, not for the
Council as Mr. Sanderson states in his letter, which, as will be
readily agreed, is a very different thing.

We are still of the opinion that the reply should have been
submitted to the business meeting, and incidentally it would be
interesting to know what action the Trustees took in regard to
the recent County Library advertisement upon which we have
already commented.

In our list of appointments will be found particulars of the
Yorkshire East Riding County Librarianship to which an elemen-
tary school teacher has been appointed.

In this connection it might be noted that an article on the
East Riding scheme in the ‘‘Municipal Journal’’ of November
21st last described in some detail what would be expected of the
selected candidate. Among other interesting points the follow-
ing appears ‘‘As to the librarian, it is required that the post should
be advertised with a view to eliciting applications of the right
kind. Other qualifications being approximately equal, preference
is expected to be given to a candidate with the best training and
experience in librarianship.’’

The desirability of appointing a person trained as a librarian
is also shown in the information re duties sent out with the
application forms for the post.

BOOKS OF THE MONTH.

In accepting the invitation of the Council to be responsible
for this new feature, I fear that I have committed myself to an
almost impossible task. The list given is not to exceed twelve
titles, so that it will be apparent to all that I shall be open to
endless criticism. The difficulty will be not what to include, but
what to leave out.

I shall endeavour to give, as far as possible, only those books
of outstanding merit, and these will include authors of known
value and those who are still in the experimental stage. These

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lists will naturally be almost confined to works of pure literature,
except where a work, although, for the want of a better term,
is classified as non-fiction, has a much wider appeal, or where its
supreme greatness compels its inclusion.

As this is the first of the series I propose to commence by
giving a list of, not the twelve best books, nor the twelve out-
standing, but twelve outstanding books of 1924, and I have
endeavoured to leave out the obvious ones, such as Shaw’s ‘‘St.

Joan,”’ which has received such publicity that no assistant can be
unaware of its existence.
Bell. The Great Plague in London in 1665. ... (Lane)
Constant. Adolphe. rere pa ... (Philpot)

The forerunner of the psychological novel, and is regarded as a
masterpiece of self-analysis. This is the first English translation
which has appeared for over one hundred years.

Forster. Passage to India. ei ae ... (Arnold)
Galsworthy. The White Monkey. _... ... (Heinemann)
Haldane. Daedalus; or science and the future. (K. Paul)
Housman, Trimblerigg: a modern satire. ... ... (Cape)
Maurois. Ariel: a Shelley romance ... — ... (Lane)
Power. Medieval People. wes — ... (Methuen)
Mann. Buddenbrooks. 2 vols. ... S ... (Secker)

Translated from the German. The author is considered to be
one of the great German modern novelists, and this is his most
representative work.

Mottram. Spanish Farm. ... ome ... (Chatto)
Awarded Hawthornden Prize for 1924.
Trench. Collected works. 3 vols. ... wis ... (Cape)

These three volumes contain several poems hitherto unpublished
in book form, all those poems which the author wished to preserve,
and a chronicle play, ‘‘Napoleon,”’ written for the most part in prose.

Turner. Variations on the theme of music .... (Heinemann)
A work of original and provocative criticism by one of the
younger school of English musical critics. G. F. V.

LIBRARIANSHIP AS A CAREER FOR WOMEN.

By Miss W. K. Tuorne, St. Bride Institute.
(Continued from p. 22.)

Personally I do not think this is at all likely to come about,
nor do I think it necessary for making Librarianship wholly
satisfactory as a career for women. There are Library systems
it England run entirely by women, but they are in a very small
minority and I see no reason why the percentage should be
increased. But I do think that the number of Libraries employing
men only, should be decreased, and decreased considerably, in
fact eliminated altogether. Any Library system which employed
girls during the war and is now replacing them as they leave, by
boys, is I think, taking a distinctly backward step. Thus there
does not seem to be any tendency in the direction of making

3¢

Librarianship a career solely for women, as nursing, nor do 1]
think it necessary, as I said before, in order that it should become
a good profession for women to enter.

At present Librarianship is not so lucrative as some other
professions, although the position now is much better than it was
before the removal of the penny rate. As Librarians become
better educated, the rate of remuneration should increase in a
similar proportion, although Public Opinion will play a large part
in that desired improvement. When we ourselves have educated
the masses up to realizing that Librarianship is as much a skilled
profession as Doctoring, then we shall have achieved something,
and our salaries are sure to increase.

Now having said something about the prospects before us,
i will turn, with your permission, to the kind of women most
suitable for the career. I have dealt with the special qualities
desirable for a Children’s Librarian, but they were, for the most
part extra to those ordinarily required.

She should be studious, or interest in books and their classifi-
cation and cataloguing would soon flay. She should be patient,
to explain the methods of procedure, and catalogues to simple
pcople. She should be understanding, to be able to gather from
a few broken sentences the needs of the person, and sympathetic
te help them in difficulties. A good memory saves much time in
‘ooking up’’ information while common sense is absolutely
invaluable. The faculty for doing neat, tidy and accurate work is
one well worth developing as it makes the work of others easier
in many respects. A Librarian is not encouraged to put all his
energies into his work by the thought that if the issues go up his
salary will be increased. In a Library are housed the Ideals of
hundreds of men and women. It is our place to help people to read
and understand these matters. We must lend a hand willingly,
out of the goodness of our hearts. The Libraries are for the
benefit of the people, and the Librarian must willingly and cheer-
fully help people to find any information that is wanted.

We have before us a better outlook than any of our predeces-
sers. The scope of Librarianship is broadening wonderfully.
Most large firms, and all the newspapers of any consequence, have
special libraries, and the number is constantly increasing. These
libraries must all have a Librarian of some sort, and as time goes
on, it is to be hoped that properly trained persons will be
appointed. ‘

The number of County Library schemes too, is rapidly in-
creasing, and women are as suitable for the post of County
Librarian as men. These schemes, once begun, will never end,
but will most assuredly extend in all directions so that Assistant
County Librarians will be needed.

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It is up to us to take hold of every slight opportunity that
presents itself, not only to improve our own positions, but those
of our successors. We have benefitted by the pioneer work done
by those who went before, let those who are yet to come, benefit
by our work.

IN DEFENCE OF THE NOVEL.!
By F. P. Stnccatr, St. Pancras Public Libraries.

Introductory.—As an introduction to my subject I should
like, first of all, to quote from an article by Sir Arthur T.
Quiller-Couch published in 1922; he says ‘‘The business of an
intelligent library committee consists, as I take it, in filling their
shelves with sound literature of all sorts; not in bullying the
public into this or that pathway of interest. The main business
ef a public librarian, as I take it, is (after due care of the books
in his charge) not so very different from that of a university
professor who stands by and has his advice ready for anyone
who consults him. I am tired of statistics telling me what
proportion of novels was drawn out of such-and-such a public
library in comparison with the demand (say) for books on
natural science or on economics. ...’’ These words, coming
from such an authority, constitute an effective rejoinder to the
old-fashioned but still very-much-alive charge anent the provision
ef fiction in public libraries and the large percentage of the
fiction issue.

In case the title of my paper may seem high-sounding, or
perhaps even impertinent, having in mind the great names
associated in the annals of literature with the medium of the
novel, I would wish to make my position clear at the outset. I
am going to hazard a few remarks, mainly with a view to
provoking discussion, on that familiar ‘‘bone of contention’’ in
niany circles, the question of the novel, and more especially the
popular novel, in rate-supported libraries.

Some time ago I had a rather amusing experience. A
certain enthusiastic if ill-informed councillor paid a visit to a
library where I was serving and asked to see ‘‘the new books.”’
On my taking him into the office and showing him a selection of
recent additions to the educational sections of the stock, he said :
‘Oh, I don’t want these; I want to see the friction !’’ It
occurred to me that, in view of events, the word might not have
been so flagrant a misnomer as it at first appeared! By the
way, this incident is fact and not fiction!

1 Read at Tottenham, Mth January, 1925.

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A note on Classification.—It has always seemed to me a
curious point that the public librarian, in charge of an educa-
tional institution, has been apparently unable to devise a better
inclusive term for the field of literature which is directly con-
cerned with the education of mankind than ‘‘non-fiction.’’ |
imagine, though I am not sure, that the expression was origin-
ally imported from our American confréres. In any case it is
surely a pity that our, classification experts are not possessed of
a sufficiently strong ‘‘streak of originality’? to cope with such
a situation. Although I am here to-night definitely ranged on
the side of that which, for want of a better term I am going to
call recreational literature, I nevertheless strongly object to the
rovel, and under that head is, of course, included good and
indifferent, if not actually bad fiction, occupying the premier
position of the two main divisions of the classification of public
library stocks. Firstly, what does the Law say about the pro-
vision of fiction in municipal libraries? So far as I am aware
there is no definite instruction either for or against the inclusion
of novels; it is left, as are so many things, to the option of the
local authority. Approaching the problem from a logical stand-
point, we have then, to consider one or two basic questions.
Why should novels be included in the stocks of public
libraries which should possess a definite status as educational
institutions? Is there any educational value attaching to novel-
reading? If there is not, are we justified in providing out of
public funds, literature of a purely recreational nature? Now
these, in spite of being hackneyed, are still, to my mind, exceed-
ingly interesting questions; and many are the answers that
occur to me. _ I intimated just now that there were good,
indifferent, and quite possibly, bad novels to be found in many
public libraries. The same!thing is unfortunately, in some cases,
true of the other sections of the stock and, after all, it seems a
trifle inconsistent if we should cavil at the popular novel while
freely admitting to our shelves the so-called records of certain
remarkable fishermen, big-game hunters, globe-trotters and
others whose ‘‘experiences’’ often savour, and as often have been
proved to be, more of fiction than of fact! Such cases are
inexcusable exaggerations for the purpose of self-gratification.
There is far more warrant, in my opinion, for classification under
“*fact’’ of such admirable efforts as Mrs. Margaret L. Woods’
“‘A Poet’s Youth,’’ or’ Mr. Sabatini’s ‘‘Historical Nights’
Entertainments,’’ for thése are at least serious attempts to
reclothe events that have passed, with uncertain record, into
history. It is well known that the late Mr. Conrad subscribed
wholeheartedly to the dictum of Henry James that ‘Fiction is
nearer truth than history.’’ There is also Oscar Wilde’s amusing

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apophthegm that ‘‘the only form of fiction in which real characters
do not seem out of place is history.”” When one compares the
writings of various historians, for instance Green and Lingard,
one realises that prejudice certainly has been allowed too much
scope somewhere. In any case the historian relies on documents
for his recording of events; the artist among novelists on men
and women.

Direct and Indirect Education through the Novel.—Perhaps
the most important point in my ‘‘brief’’ for the ‘‘defence’’ is the
educative value of the novel. Will anyone present to-night, }
wonder, disagree with my contention that the novel, generally
speaking, is one of the most powerful forces for good or evil, as
the case may be, in the world of to-day. We hear incessant
ravings about the influence of the cinema but it does not get
into every home as does the novel. Even the modern marvel of
wireless cannot oust the novel from its position and, in places
where a newspaper is a too expensive luxury and the public
library alas unknown, there are usually a few paper or cloth-
bound novels which are exchanged within and without the family
circle.

In this great Metropolis you may enter any vehicle—’bus
tram, or train—at a time when the workers are on either their
outward or homeward journey and you will almost invariably find
« great proportion of the travellers, especially they of the gentler
sex, whiling away the monotony of the journey with a novel.
Now, Mr. Chairman, I would submit that, with the possible
exception of the most jaded novel-reader, the average novel has
its very decided influence on its reader and a good percentage of
the novels stocked by the average public library have a decided
educational influence. Of course, there is always the novel which
ranks as pure literature and stands beside the narrative poem and
the drama—no matter how amusing a divergence of views there
may be as to the line of demarcation. No one will question the
value to the reader of the novels, for instance, of the veteran
master novelist—Thomas Hardy, or the works of Scott, Dickens,
Thackeray, R. L. Stevenson, and others. The works of the real
artists among novelists may quite suitably be compared, as of
course they have been, to the works of the great painters. The
contemplation of a fine painting—where the artist has caught the
atmosphere of his subject and has imparted to it that something
which is the echo in his work of his imagination—is not only a
source of mental uplift ; it is also a visualization of, and as such,
an education in, some phase of human nature, some landmark of
racial history, or the character of some interesting personage.
The novel as a word-picture of character and event with its fore-
ground of important characters and scenery, its middle distance of

38

less important characters introduced because of their influence on
the chief protagonists, and its background of scenery and general
atmosphere, bears a decided comparison to the painting.

We do not need to contend for the inclusion in our libraries
of the works of the masters; we should only make ourselves
ridiculous by attempting their exclusion. And, while on the sub-
ject of pure literature, I may mention that it would be something
of a curious anomaly, were we to stock the dramatic efforts of
certain novelist-dramatists and exclude their novels—more especi-
ally as, in many cases, the same theme has been used in novel and
play alike; there are the instances of Mr. Maugham’s ‘‘Rain,’’
Mr. Bennett’s ‘Great Adventure,’’ and Mr. A. A. Milne’s ‘*Mr.
Pim passes by’’ among others.

We may conveniently divide the general present-day output
of novels (regardless of any question of literary value) into two
classes—novels of character and novels of action. Such works as
Mr. Brett Young’s ‘‘Black Diamond,’’ Miss Sinclair’s ‘‘Mary
Clivier,’’” Mr. Wells’ ‘‘Kipps’’ and ‘‘Love and Mr. Lewisham,’’
Mr. Swinnerton’s ‘‘Young Felix’’ and Mr. Compton Mackenzie’s
‘*Sinister Street’’ fall naturally into the former group, while the
scientific romances of Mr. Wells, the romances of the late Mr.
ilewlett, and most of the popular novels of Mr. J. C. Snaith, Mr.
A. E. W. Mason, Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins, and others fall
into the latter group. The novel of character serves many useful
purposes incidental to the recreational motive for its existence.
it is an aid to the appreciation of the lights and shades of psycho-
logy; it has the effect of widening the reader’s experience of the
diverse nature of humanity. Many in the past have enjoyed the
delightful company of Mr. Hardy's Tess, of Dickens’ gallery of
fascinating characters, of Thackeray’s Becky Sharp, and a score
of others that occur to one from the pages of the immortals ; and
many another thousand readers will live to be delighted in the
same way. However, we are mainly concerned to-night with the
popular novel. Who, then, has not felt a new joy in life from
such close association as Mr. Locke permits us with that golden-
hearted rascal Paragot? If Mr. Locke does indulge at times in
riotous extravaganza his writings are very companionable ; indeed
they take us away out of a workaday world into the pleasantest
of company. Who, again, after a dull day, has not thanked
?rovidence for the drolleries of Mr. Jacobs’ Night Watchman,
Sam Small, Ginger Dick and Peter Russet, and the Oldest
inhabitant? Many of us will remember David O’Rane and per-
haps, too, old Burgess from Mr. McKenna’s ‘‘Sonia’’; and there
are those, including Sir James Barrie, who, in spite of Mr.
Hutchinson’s peculiar style, found Mark Sabre an _ acceptable
character !

~UM

WEiM

39

Our American cousins have recently produced a great novelist
in the person of Mr. Sinclair Lewis, whose Geo. F. Babbitt ranks
high as a character study and useful as an interpretation, for
the world to read, of a representative phase of American life.
However, while I have spent many a pleasant and_ profitable
evening in his company, | am not ashamed to confess my enter-
tainment also at the hands of Mr. Peter B. Kyne, another
American on a different plane, with his amusing old man Cappy
Ricks and his Blue Star interests, and, again, with Mr. Booth
Tarkington’s cheering Penrod.

The novel of action, too, has its decided value apart from its
business of recreation ; it is undoubtedly an exercise for the mind
to read even a well-contrived detective story. How many house-
holds in how many stations of society have revelled in—aye, and
profited by—the prowess of Mr. Sherlock Holmes and “My dear
Watson’? Hodder’s will tell you that a copy of every Oppen-
heim yarn is supplied in special binding to Sir James Barrie.
Many of our leading politicians have, at one time or another, con-
fessed their predilection for a good detective or mystery story in
their moments of leisure ; possibly, however, in their case, it was
the change of resting their lingual organ which appealed to them !

Apart, however, from the division of novels into studies of
character and novels of action one may proceed to classify again
by subject. The novel with a definite and well-described topo-
graphical background not only serves, incidentally, the purpose
of educating the reader concerning the particular district or
country with which it deals, but tends to introduce him to serious
works of travel and topography, and even to interest him, to the
extent of inducing him, in the case of our own country, at all
events, to visit the locality ; a well-known recent instance is the
extraordinary interest evinced in the place of residence of the
iniserly Henry Earlforward of ‘‘Riceyman Steps’’ in the King’s
Cross Road district. Much has been written of and many conse-
quent visits paid to, spots associated with Dickens’ and
Vhackeray’s London and Mr. Hardy’s Wessex. I do not think
that Miss Kaye-Smith with her clever delineation of Sussex life
and character has been without her influence in this and other
ways. Speaking of Miss Kaye-Smith reminds me of an amusing
story told recently—that of the library assistant who, asked for the
works of Schiller, pondered awhile and then replied brightly, ‘‘Ah!
vou mean Sheila Kaye-Smith.’’ Many an enthusiastic reader has
become familiarized with the life of the Potteries through the magic
of Mr: Bennett’s pen, and Mr. Riley has proved himself equal to
the task of conveying the atmosphere and scenery of Yorkshire in
his novels and sketches. Then again, Mr. Eden Philpotts, the
serious student of a great master, has endeavoured to translate, in

40

terms of the novel, the life and associations of Dartmoor and other
parts of Devon and Cornwall; and of course, Sir A. T. Quiller-
Couch has written many sketches and stories around his native
Fowey in Cornwall. Again, we have Mr. Shane Leslie as an
interpreter of Irish life and character and Mr. Neil Munro and Mr.
Crockett, among others, with their novels of Scottish life. Going
further afield we find writers like the late Mr. W. H. Hudson with
his remarkable study of the tropical forest of South America in
‘*Green Mansions,"’ and the late Mr. Conrad with his powerful and
intimate studies of life at sea and in the tropical east. On a
different plane we have Sir Gilbert Parker and his French-Canadian
interests ; Mr. Zane Grey with his stories of the South-west United
States and the Mexican Border; the late Jack London and Mr.
Curwood and their tales of the Alaskan wilderness; Mrs. Diver
with her Anglo-Indian stories and in a lesser degree, Mrs. Pertin
and Mrs. Penny who also usually choose India as their back-
ground; and one could go on with the citing of such cases.
Enough has, however, been said to give clear evidence of the
numerous instances of the art of the novelist, and perhaps we
had better say ‘‘craft’’ in the case of the ‘‘best sellers,’’ being
used for its legitimate purpose, and further, incidentally, as a
definite factor for geographical education. I imagine that quite
a number of people will disagree about this alleged educative
value especially in the case of the popular tales of writers such
as Mr. Zane Grey. I can only say that I have repeatedly known
of cases where, after reading such fiction, interest has been
aroused, consequent discussion evoked, and a definite educationa!
purpose served. Of course, one can but agree that what may be
termed the “‘superficial reader’’ is met with on every hand; I have
yet, however, to be convinced that he is in a majority.

Will anyone gainsay my contention that the average reader
following Mr. Zangwill through one of his studies of the Ghetto
will come away from it with new thoughts of, and sympathies
with, Jewish life and character. Mr. Pett Ridge’s amusing
cameos of London life are, of course, born of the Author’s experi-
ence, and as such, are an education to the reader in London
character; and the same applies to the grand guignol of Mr.
Thomas Burke. Even Sir Henry Rider Haggard has quickened
to a very considerable extent the general interest in the history
and archaeology of the Land of the Pharaohs. The late Mr.
Hewlett’s scholarly retelling of the Icelandic sagas has given to
the novel-reader a fund of inspiring heroic romance which would
otherwise be lost to him. From the novels of Sir Walter Scott
and Dumas pére, among others, to the more recent efforts of
Mr. Stanley Weyman, Miss Marjorie Bowen and Mr. Sabatini,
we have had historical novels of varying educational value, many

Q&reaha

41

of them adequately conveying a general idea of the manners,
customs and historical episodes of the periods with which they
are concerned. I was credibly informed, quite recently, by a
lady official concerned with the administration of L.C.C. evening
centres, of a centre where a popular novel forms (on a reading
circle basis) an introduction to a systematic study of—say—a
period of French history.

Books of the type of Mr. Wells’ ‘‘Mr. Britling’’ and Mr.
McKenna’s ‘‘Sonia’’ are absolute pictures of definite phases of
recent history.

‘‘Bartimeus’’ and ‘‘Taffrail’’ have done much to instruct
their readers on the life of the bluejacket in the Royal Navy of
to-day—a phase of life which had scarcely received the story-
teller’s attention since the days of Marryat.

Mr. Alec Waugh has written an authentic and intimate
picture of present-day school-life in the ‘‘Loom of Youth.’’ It
will be seen from the various examples I have mentioned, how
many and varied are the phases of life covered by the novel
and how proportionately wide, therefore, are its educational
possibilities.

The Propaganda Novel.—I want to mention, here, the
services to the cause of humanitarianism rendered by many
novelists. The late Jack London with his two novels ‘‘Jerry of
the .Islands’’ and ‘‘Michael, brother of Jerry,’’ put the case
against the training of animals for public exhibition; also, he
vave us such stories as ‘‘White Fang’’ and ‘‘The Call of the
Wild’? calculated to inspire sympathy and thought for our canine
friends. Again, there is Mr. Ollivant’s great story ‘‘Owd Bob’’
and the lesser Kazan stories of Mr. Curwood.

I would venture to say that such books are more influential
in the worthy cause of our dumb friends than much sermonizing
and school propaganda. Turning to a slightly different phase
of animal story-telling, 1 should like to mention the work of those
Canadian naturalists and_ story-tellers—Mr. Charles G. D.
Roberts and Mr. Ernest Thompson Seton; also the work of the
late Mr. F. St. Mars and Mr. Bertram Atkey.

The writings of these gentlemen are, I maintain, of the
greatest educational service—fiction though they be; they are
the result of years of painstaking observation and are instinct
throughout with a real love of nature and a keen sympathy with
the world of animal life—qualities which will not be without their
reflection in the mind of the intelligent reader. Even that best
of life—the primal instincts of man and the thoughts and actions
the whole, a decided power for good, with her keenness for the
bird denizens of her homeland.

42

I should like to call to your minds, too, in passing, the part
the novel has played in the amelioration of the lot of the under-
dog of humanity in the past. There is the outstanding case of
Mrs. Beecher Stowe’s ‘‘Uncle Tom's Cabin.’’ Captain
Marryat’s strong satire on the unhappy conditions of naval life
in the early 19th century was not without its result; and, more
recently we have had the case of Mr. Clark Russell who, after a
rough apprenticeship to the sca himself, used the novel as an
effective medium for the ventilation of the grievances of the
seamen of the mercantile marine. And the novel has been con-
sistently used in a greater or lesser degree for purposes of pro-
paganda since the days of Richardson.

Of recent years we have had what may be termed propa-
ganda on many debatable points from the detachment of Mr.
Galsworthy in his presentation, through the sister mediums of
the drama and the novel, of the artificial restrictions of our
civilisation, to the vapourings of such people as the late Miss
Corelli and Mr. Joseph Hocking ; and, latterly, of Mr. Hutchin-
son with his far-fetched anti-feminist melodrama ‘‘This Free-
dom’’; across the water, Mr. Upton Sinclair and Mr. Frank
Norris have spoken plainly on many questions, and shortly, no
doubt, we shall be having strong propaganda tales from a certain
Spanish novelist! Mr. Galsworthy has fairly consistently used
the novel and the drama for showing us the weak spots in our
over-lauded social economy. The smug respectability and exag-
gerated sense of ownership of the well-to-do, typified in the
character of the man of property, Soames Forsyte—for instance.
Meredith and Hardy, however, among the great, have been con-
tent to use the novel as a vehicle for the expression of their
conception of the world’s meaning and the general problems of
human life and character—the individual related to the whole,
rather than the individual related to the artificial standards of the
few.

Art may, as we are told, deal only with the elemental things
cf life—the primal instincts of man and the thoughts and actions
which are based upon them ; the passing problems of each civiliza-
tion, however, are neither more nor less than the outcome of these
fundamental laws of nature and as such find place, in the light of
our modern education, in the interpretation of life by the creative
artist. Few, indeed, are the men who have used the novel as an
art medium and have altogether refrained from airing their pre-
judices and so to a greater or lesser degree providing a story
and also what amounts to more or less of a social tractate at one
and the same time. Dickens deliberately aimed his shafts at the
Poor Law, private schools, hypocrisy in religion, and many other
failures in the social administration of his day. Thackeray no
less keenly satirised the social types of his time; and so on.

Wim

+3

Perhaps it will seem to you that 1 am diverging considerably
from the point of my paper and becoming unnecessarily prolix ;
my intention, however, is to show that there has been and is a
great deal of propaganda going on from day to day through the
novel. I would suggest that such propaganda, provided it deals
with some sufficiently important phase of life, is calculated to
render good educational service by provoking thought, and con-
sequently instinctive criticism, on the part of the reader, on the
matters concerned.

General Remarks.—I think I have heard the statement, in
talks to children on public library facilities, that ‘‘our library
stocks represent the record of man’s knowledge gained from
experience.’’ It can with truth be said that most of the better
novels are the results of their authors’ experience of life. What
made Gissing the sombre pessimist he was and his work largely a
reflection of that pessimism? I imagine from ‘‘The Private
Papers of Henry Ryecroft’’ that it was, without question, his
unhappy experience of life. What gave Conrad his vast and
intimate knowledge of the sea and seamen? It was the result
of his experience as a seaman in the British Mercantile Marine.
Wherein lies the peculiar fascination of Jane Austen’s Victorian
studies? Largely, it lies I suggest, in the intimate nature of her
pictures—due to her having written from her own experience of
life. It is impossible to convey a semblance of reality with
puppets drawn from the imagination when experience of men
and women wherewith to endue them with life-giving faculties is
missing.

In reading a good novel we broaden our understanding of life
and its problems by approaching some phase or phases of
another’s experience viewed through the eyes of, and brought
into proper perspective by, the author. As Mr. Swinnerton so
aptly puts it: ‘*The novelist puts thoughts about life, conduct,
and many other vital things into the heads of his readers’’ and ‘‘if
they keep brains and imagination active, they must be to some
extent educational.’’ To meet and mix with one’s fellow men is
always a sure means of widening one’s sympathies and assisting
one’s philosophy of life, and one meets and mixes with them in
varying degrees of reality in the pages of the novel. In my
public service I have been repeatedly astonished, interested, and
pleased, to hear from persons, obviously denied in their early days
the chance of reasonable education, descriptions of characters,
often, it is agreed, from the pages of ephemeral fiction; descrip-
tions sufficing, nevertheless, to indicate an extraordinary power
of imagination, which, directed into more useful channels, would
be calculated to result, for such persons, in a new outlook on the
world of letters. In our modern workaday world the cultivation
of imagination is certainly a thing to be encouraged on every

44

hand. Many librarians know, alas—to their mortification, the
singular lack of imagination on the part of many otherwise
worthy members of committee. Again, when you have to cope
with people who literally obey the injunction to ‘‘write legibly in
ink’? by writing the word ‘‘legibly’’ in ink as we have had
recently in St. Pancras, you will realise that some people are
not possessed of very much imagination. Even in the case of
lower grade novels the imagination of the writer certainly does
beget imagination in the reader—perhaps, in the case of the more
hopeless type of novel, of a not altogether worthy character.
Speaking of this reminds me of what I regard as a curiously
paradoxical position which certain well-informed people persis-
tently assume. Where they are never tired of the usual con-
demnation of providing the writings of Miss Dell, Miss Ayres,
and certain others for the delectation of flighty youngsters or
sentimental old ladies, they wax ecstatic over the morbid pruri-
encies of Mr. D. H. Lawrence and others and even allow all and
sundry access to them in the ordinary way. I maintain that some
of Mr. Lawrence’s work, for example, excellent stylist though he
is and brilliant though his characterization at times may be, is
calculated to result in considerably more harm to the unsophisti-
cated youngster, even in these days of the ‘‘emancipation of
youth,”’ than the highflown romance, sickly sentimentalism, and
poor English of certain ‘‘best-sellers.’’ There is an unhealthy
tendency, nowadays—mostly on the part of self-constituted
literary critics to jeer at all sentiment and call it sentimentalism,
and to hail all that follows the school of Zola, regardless of a
good many things, as very good literature. Mr. Locke—that
writer of wholesome, if fanciful, tales—once asked why, as we
do not take a microscopic lens to cheese when we eat it, we should
do so with life when we live it! If it comes to realism in the
strict sense of the word, humour, joy, and brightness should be
as much in evidence as the sordid things. Mr. Swinnerton’s
‘*The Merry Heart’’ is a realistic little picture of a London clerk
—a cheery, light-hearted individual—who is just as real as Jenny
and Emmy Blanchard, the unhappy sisters in his brilliant long
**short story,’’ ‘‘Nocturne.’’ It is the optimist that counts in
these days, and the public benefactors who materially assist in
the driving away of the disease of the age—worry—are the
fraternity of Messrs. Jacobs, Jerome, Wodehouse, the late
Herbert Jenkins, and others. After the receipt of the final
income-tax demand note, would we read, for preference, the
carefully analysed details of the effects of intoxicants or drugs on
the lives of people of twisted temperament and perverted taste,
or psychological studies of that peculiar trend of thought and
action, which persistently explores all possibilities of the noxious

Dt RR

45

and diseased ways of life? 1 think the vote of the vast majority
would be for light romance and humour. Mr. Jeffery Farnol is
a poor substitute for George Borrow but, at least, he does not
subscribe to the assertion of Mr. W. L. George that ‘‘life is most
vivid when it is most unpleasant.’’

There is a type of super-critic, who, well steeped’ in the
tradition of the Victorians, decries, with an air of finality, all
modern novels, and persistently declares that there is no one
among the younger school to bear comparison with the acknow-
ledged masters of the past. One of the points one hears raised
in such a connection is the prolific modern output. Such critics
forget or ignore the fact that the modern novel is often very little
more than a lengthened short story, and that, quite probably,
three or four of the standard length novels of to-day would be
required to equal the volume of matter contained in many of the
Victorian novels. The late William de Morgan, alone among
the writers of this century, wrote lengthily, and his novels belong
properly beside the work of the last century. There can be little
doubt that this century will produce its quota of masters precisely
as the last has done.

The Best Seller.—1 should like, at this juncture, to consider
the general problem of lower grade fiction in public libraries; it
is, in my opinion, one of grossly exaggerated import. I would
suggest that we ourselves, more or less in the position of
graduates in the school of literary appreciation, are apt to forget
or altogether overlook the extraordinary variety we should find
in the respective minds of, say, any twelve persons gathered at
random from a suburban High Street. In my opinion, we should
not find more than one or two of those persons who had read any
of the works of, say, Mr. Hardy! On the other hand we should
quite probably find seventy-five per cent. who had acquired the
habit of reading Miss Dell, or worse still, penny novelettes !
And, again, I would venture to add that nearly as large a per-
centage out of our dozen would be entirely incapable of appre-
ciating Mr. Hardy. Now I believe that it is fairly general
nowadays to provide a more or less graded series of stories in
juvenile departments in order to make suitable provision for
children according to age and sex. It has occurred to me that,
whereas a similar diversity of requirement undoubtedly exists in
the adult section, practically no heed is paid to it. While it
would, obviously, be ridiculous to attempt any sort of adult
grading—at all events by age—I maintain, however, that we
should keep well in mind the fact that that which appeals to Miss
Seventeen wil] not necessarily appeal to Mrs. Seventy-years-old,
or that that which appeals to a foreign correspondence clerk will
not necessarily appeal, at first contact, to the average bricklayers’

46

labourer! Oscar Wilde once said that ‘‘the appreciation of
literature is a question of temperament and not of teaching.’
Certainly I would say that literary appreciation is affected by
environment, as environment affects character. Do we, as a rule,
expect the slum-dweller to appreciate the finer points of literary
composition? The man or woman working almost automati-
cally in workshop or office during the day and coming home to an
environment that is scarcely inspiring at night is most concerned
to get away from the life of his or her experience; to get away
into some atmosphere however highflown and ridiculous that is
sufficiently exciting or romantic as a remote contrast to their own
drab existence; hence, the rush to the ‘‘pictures’’ to witness the
stereotyped Hollywood melodrama; hence, also, the rush to
certain popular authors, who have, I think, much in common
with the ‘pictures.’ Here, however, is our chance, for, by
stocking at least a representative selection of the output of the
most wholesome of the ‘‘best-sellers” we are providing a point
of contact with a large percentage of the general public. There
is, quite obviously, no useful purpose served to the general com-
munity in providing a public lending library stocked, so far as
imaginative literature is concerned, with the best only; such an
institution would be the possession of a privileged class. By
providing a point of contact with the masses, always endeavour-
ing, of course, to keep the standard of such matter reasonably
high, we are bringing the public into their own institutions where
they should find a more or less linked sequence of reading matter
from the lower grades to the best in the world’s literature. From
the point of view of amusement only there is much to be said for
the novel. Where is the school without playing-fields and sports-
ground?- And why should the public library be without its
recreation ground for the mind? If there should be objection to
the novel as a recreational factor only, similar objection might
logically be made to the provision of books dealing with sports
and pastimes.

The Short Storvy.—I have noticed that many librarians
neglect the short story. It is the exception rather than the rule
to find any really interesting variety of collections of short
stories. Of course, Mr. Kipling is represented, also Mr. Jacobs,
*‘O. Henry,’’ and several of those I may term the standard
writers. The fact remains, however, that the art of the short
story is an art on its own—precisely as Mr. Thomas Burke
explains—‘‘as the art of the miniature is an art on its own.”’
Where we do stock short stories in any number they are hidden
away among stacks of full-length novels, mostly with no indica-
tion on the library binding as to what they are and sometimes
even with no indication in the catalogue. Many people for

Aletha

example, know and wish to read Henry James's ‘‘ghost’’ story,
“The Turning of a Screw,'’ but they are not aware that it is to
be found under the title ‘‘The Two Magics’’ and so, possibly,
never come across it, unless under the guidance of some other
better-instructed person.

(To be continued).

CORRESPONDENCE.

Sheffield Public Libraries,
Administrative Department, Reference Library.
19th January, 1925.
To the Editor of the “Library Assistant.”

Dear Sir,—The caustic note in your January issue with reference to the
advertisement of the Northamptonshire Education Committee for a librarian
is excellent so far as it poes, but is it not time that the appointment of untrained
persons to library posts received serious consideration.

Presumably the Library Association will lodge a protest; but the effect of
such protests is not particularly apparent. It would appear that action of a
militant nature is required.

1 would suggest for the consideration of your readers that in cases of this
kind the offending authority be notified that should the appointment be made
outside the library profession, the following action will be taken :—-

Neither the authority making the appointment nor the librarian appointed
will be recognised by organised bodies in the library profession, and any
librarians or assistants applying to such authority for appointments, or having
any dealings with the authority or the librarian appointed will be expelled
irom recognised professional bodies.

Opinions may differ as to whether proscription by the Library Associa-
tion is to be regarded as a penalty, but in the present feeble state of organisa-
tion of librarianship it seems to be the only weapon in our armoury.

It may be argued that action of this nature is undignified and unpro-
fessional, but if a body with the prestige and honourable record of the B.M.A.
can take far more ruthless action, the library profession should not hesitate
to adopt an active policy against these repeated attacks on the librarian’s
status.

Yours, etc.,
J. P. Lame.

THE DIVISIONS.
Soutu Coast Division.

A Meeting of the Western Section will be held at Southampton, on
Thursday, February 19th, 1925.

Members and friends should arrange to reach Southampton West as near
3 p.m. as possible and should send time of arrival to Mr. A. H. Davis, Chief
Librarian, Southampton, by February 17th, who will make arrangements to
meet visitors.

r. Davis hopes to show the visitors some of the many interesting things
io Southampton during the afternoon. Tea, by kind invitation of Mr. Davis
and the Southampton Staff, will be provided at the Tudor House Museum,
where it is hoped the Mayor of Southampton will welcome the visitors.

The Tudor House Museum is a splendid half-timbered mansion which was
erected at the beginning of the 16th century on foundation and cellars of a
Norman building and sheltered King Henry VIII. and Anne Boleyn, also King
Philip of Spain on his way to marry Queen Mary at Winchester.

48

At the evening Meeting Mr. Hector F. Mourant, of Southampton, will
read a paper entitled ‘Why novels are read,’ which should provoke an inter-
esting discussion.

F. A. Ricitarps, Hon. Secretary.

Nortu WeEstTERN Division.
CurRistmas SociaL aND Wuist Drive.

The Second Christmas Social and Whist Drive, was held, by the kind
permission of the Chief Librarian, in the Reference Library, Liverpool, on
Friday, 19th December.

Ninety-one members and friends were present.

Whist was played until 8.45 p.m. and the winners of the lovely prizes
were greatly envied by their less fortunate friends. Refreshments were then
served, and the second half of the evening was devoted to music. The
excellent musical programme was greatly appreciated by all present.

A very successful evening was brought to a close with the hearty singing
cf “Auld Lang Syne.”

NEW MEMBERS.

Members: Miss R. Fairman (Margate), Miss M. C. Stanley-Smith
(Croydon) and Leslie Virgo (Bermondsey).
Associate: Miss I. Spicer (Margate).

—_——_—

APPOINTMENTS.

Miss Ruth Baker, B.A. (Leeds), Diplomate, University College School of
Librarianship, to be County Librarian, Northumberland. The other candi-
dates selected for interview were Messrs. Lynn (Cardiff), Pearson (Newcastle-
on-Tyne) and Smith (Edinburgh).

*Mr. Horace Goulden, Deputy Librarian, to be Chief Librarian and
Curator, Huddersfield.

Mr. J. W. Lucas, F.L.A., Assistant-in-Charge, Astley Bridge Branch
Library, Bolton, to be Librarian, Malvern. The other selected candidates
were Messrs. J. W. March (Exeter), G. C. Poole (Cardiff), *W. G. Sanford
(Chiswick), and W. T. Williams (Middlesborough).

—. Woodfield, Elementary School Teacher, Yorkshire East Riding County
Council to be County Librarian, Yorkshire East Riding. The other candi-
dates selected for interview were Messrs. Goulden (Huddersfield), A. E. Sleight
(Cardiff) and E. Troup, B.A. (Durham), Secondary School Teacher (Res.),
Malvern. Mr. Goulden withdrew before the interview.

*Member A.A.L.

Correction ; P. 21 for Miss W. M. Thorne read Miss W. K. Thorne.

FOR SALE.

An Ex:-Librarian’s Tools for sale at bargain prices. No reasonable offer
refused.

Sets, Odd vols. Odd parts: The Library. Old series and New series;
L.A. Record; Library Assistant; Library World; L.A. Year Book; I..A.
Transactions and Proceedings, etc., etc. Enquiries solicited.

W. Gso. Cuamepsrs, 38, Cleave Road, Gillingham, Kent.